Gear Shmear

Psalm 51:15-17 says, "O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth my declare Your praise. For you do delight in sacrifice, otherwise, I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."
When it comes to modern day technology, I am the first person to look at it awe, especially when it comes to music, and even more so when it's all mine! I can't tell you how many people, who didn't care at all, I told about my new DD-7 from Boss. I got it to play at a gig in which I thought it was necessary (What a debatable term nowadays). Of course I didn't need it, but I had the resources and thought it would be helpful.
When the National Worship Leader magazine comes out, I love flipping through it to see what people are saying about worship and how we can do it genuinely. However, one of my favorite parts is going to the end where all the gear is and dreaming about how cool it would be to be able to have the money to buy all of it. Think about it, if your church was supported by twenty or so millionaires who gave so much money to your church that every window was actually a flatscreen that "podcasted" the pastor's messages from past weeks. If you had all the money the world in the world and were able to purchase all of the top of the line sound, visual, and music equipment, what would you gain?
I think this is a fair questions, even if there is no such thing as windows that act as flatscreens (or at least not that I know of!). There are so many musicians and churches that are doing their best to stay up to date with all of the technology, but for what purpose?
I believe that buying gear and staying relevant isn't bad at all, unless we forget about why we are worshiping. I saw an ad in the magazine I was talking about earlier and it was advertising a gear company with this slogan, "Those who take worship seriously are serious about the gear they use. At (Company Name Here), we believe GOD DESERVES ONLY OUR BEST."
Immediately every fleshly desire to judge and condemn came to my mind, and for that I repent. I think this is my thinking too often as well. Being eighteen with the attention span of five seconds, I know that unless I am culturally relevant with my gear, I cannot connect, but it's only because I have the desire to connect with people so that they can give God what He really wants.
Sure, God wants our excellence and by all means, we give Him everything we have. However, what does God say He really wants? Our broken spirits and broken and contrite hearts. Out of all the things we can give God, I believe that first and foremost should be our hearts crying out, "God, I have no where else to turn and I need You to revive me."
So sure, gear can help us get to the point of connection with our congregation so that this is the response.
My greatest fear is the worship pastor of a small church or church plant seeing this ad and becoming discouraged. No matter how big or small your church is, there needs to be a time that you can take your congregation into a time of worship without the lights, sound effects, clique (yes clique), and anything else besides the essentials. Sure, get on stage with a guitar or piano and microphone. But the words on the screen for the extra measure. But beyond this, do nothing beyond walking your congregation through the Biblical idea of worship. Let them know that worship can be done without everything else, and even more so, ninety-five percent of worship happens outside of the church.
Teach and instruct them how to worship without excess. - Forsake All